This unusual little French animation was first shown in the
late 1970s on ITV. The stories concerned the adventures of a super bird called
Wattoo Wattoo who was forever (with the exception of the first episode) trying
to sort out the problems of the "silly geese" who lived on a planet that
appeared to look very much like the Earth. Wattoo Wattoo and his friends came
from the planet Auguste and seemed to spend most of their time performing
tricks to impress each other. Wattoo Wattoo was a black and white bird with a
long tale and legs. He could fly at supersonic speeds both in a planet's
atmosphere and whilst in space. The series was written by two writers "Hubert
Ballay" and "Rene Borg" (I hope this is correct but the image titles are not
very clear). Hubert Ballay also did the original music for the stories whilst
Rene Borg also did the directing. There were dozens of stories made each
lasting only five minutes or so. For its time, it was way ahead in terms of its
ideas, stories and or the great music (which can be sampled below). Each story
was in someway, a bit like Superman. This was because Wattoo Wattoo comes to
the planet of the silly geese and decides to live there watching and waiting
for mistakes to occur and emergencies to develope. Wattoo Wattoo would then
spring into action to rescue the geese and save the day, all done without the
red cape and a revolving door.

The animation and style was very much similar to the immortal
"Il était une fois l'homme" or "Once upon a time ...man" as it was known
in the UK. This was the cartoon history of the world shown in the Summer school
holidays. I spent ages trying to track this down and finally succeeded - click
here to go to Little Gems "Once Upon A Time Man."
or if you just wishto listen to the start music (click
here 436Kb mp3).

The lyrics in French are also shown be seen below - thank you
to Nadeche at SAC (if anyone has a translation, I'd be very grateful if you
could email me it).

Each episode would see the geese like creatures starting
something daft and ending up getting into serious trouble. Wattoo Wattoo would
be nearby watching and would see the problem. He or she would then reproduce
into thousands of birds who would then tackle the problem in a vain attempt to
show the geese the error of their ways. Even though there was always a happy
ending the geese would turn up for the next story and be up their daft old
tricks again. It has to be said that the stories were very green and
ecologically friendly in their approach and the environment was always at the
heart of the episode.

I think this may be the very first episode where Wattoo
Wattoo comes into contact with the silly geese for the first and sadly for him
not last time. Screen grabs are definitely not the best Little Gems has ever
produced but they should still jog your memories.

Wattoo Wattoo's home plant called Auguste - bit of an odd
shape as planets go but then again Wattoo Wattoo is an odd sort of bird. Wattoo
Wattoo and his friends are playing in the fields and looking for ways to
impress each other. Wattoo Wattoo decides to replicate on an enormous scale and
then does one of his famous palour tricks. he magically transforms matter into
another form so he and his buddies can go skate boarding along a pink road. The
planet is actually seen to rotate 180 degrees so the birds can skate upside
down and show off their skills.

The other birds are very impressed and applaud the super
Wattoo Wattoo. Just then Wattoo Wattoo sees something strange in the sky. He
does not realise what it is and the fact that it will soon occupy most of his
idle time in the years to come. A space capsule piloted by two silly geese has
been launched from a planet that suspiciously looks like Earth. The space craft
has come to investigate Wattoo Wattoo's odd looking home world.

Wattoo Wattoo and his friends have never seen a space craft
and go off to play. As their play turns a little rough, they are unaware of the
space geese being tossed and thrown about inside the ship. The geese radio back
to their planet stating they are under some form of attack and need to
return.